Maria Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his comments. I thank him for accepting my invitation to visit Limerick. I am a former business owner. I work with many small business organisations. Certainly, the Limerick City Centre Business Association is doing Trojan work in supporting small businesses. While they are in competition with one another, they work together for the greater good.

I welcome everything that the Minister of State has announced but I believe we need a commitment as well.I acknowledge the reduced VAT rate has been extended until August and the supports will be in place for quite a while, but we need a commitment to monitor how businesses are doing. The last thing we need following Brexit, Covid-19 and the Ukraine war, is for businesses to feel they are being abandoned. They are grateful for all the Government has done but it is important that going forward to keep an eye on how businesses are doing because many small businesses have closed and that is a real concern for me. I thank the Minister of State for his commitment.